While he may not be talking about The Bay Area, I think alot of us can relate it to our scene here...btw it's from Just Blaze's blog:
"I’m not gonna get too much into this, but the whole Kanye/50 thing is the talk of the town and quite a few people have asked my take on it. Gorilla vs. Teddy Bear, SuperVillain vs. Joe Everyman, David vs.. well you get the picture. Anyway. I’ve just been sitting back and watching, from the inside and out, and listening to what everyone’s been saying. I came across my main man Jay Smooth’s vlog asking consumers to boycott BOTH albums in order to further breakdown what’s left of the industry so it can be properly rebuilt. I wholeheartedly agree with most of what he said for the most part but (and do NOT turn this into a Just vs. Jay… unless he plays Fight Night) in light of this weeks numbers, the boycott obviously didnt happen. Like i said I agree for the most part, but my take on it is slightly different. If you look at the numbers, compared to the majority of sales this year, one point is strongly proven. PEOPLE WILL STILL BUY GOOD MUSIC. There are songs I like and dislike on both albums, but theyre were both solid albums, and better than most that came out this year. It doesnt matter who sold exactly what, but between Ye, 50 and the Country Guy, almost 2 million records were purchased last week. More than some label’s entire hip-hop rosters sold in the past 12 months. Now granted of course there was a huge hype machine behind 2 out of the 3, but at the end of the day, people don’t always feed into the hype machines, as we all know, and they aren’t as stupid as we generally assume the masses to be. While I do agree that there definitely needs to be some destruction and reconstruction in the music business overall, good music also needs to be made. I think the problem is partially due to an antiquated and ineffective buisness model, as well as an abundance of artists/labels not making a product pepole actually feel compelled to buy.
I’m not totally sour on all music right now, and I don’t turn my nose up at something just because it’s what "the kids" are into today… (I get a huge kick out of Soulja Boy, tho I’m not bumping it) But there has to be a balance. Pop music is just that. Popular music, and has been here since…. well forever. Always will be too. Speaking of Soulja Boy, all you people who hate on records like that, Chicken Noodle Soup, Lip Gloss, etc. Shut up. I mean really. these are kids. They’re like 15, 16! You act like its a grown 30 year old woman or man making these records. They’re made by some (mostly) talented kids… FOR kids for the most part. Nothing more than today’s "Iesha’s" and "Playground’s" I mean, if some 16 year old kid came out pushin weight and bussin his gun for his man in the feds, that’s when I’d have a problem. Let a kid be a kid. When T.I. makes "Tomato Grilled Cheese and a 20 oz. Snapple", get mad. But yes, balance is another thing that is sorely missing.
Anyway back to my original point: Artists, labels, A&R’s, etc. Stop blaming the internet, DJ’s, mixtapes, the Africans, and the Chinese. Granted we will probably never see the days of an album selling 15 million physical copies anymore, but if you, help BUILD, push, market, and provide opportunities for the artists you sign ,your results may be a little better than they have been. Find artsts, who are just that.. true artists, who aren’t just trying to churn out something that sounds like the 10 other records that just played on the radio. And if the people can relate to, look up to, or just plain love them somehow, even better. I mean how many records are out there that are huge, and the people know nothing about the artist themselves?.. and don’t care to. They just wana bounce to it in the club and drive home… (while listening to a CD they might have actually BOUGHT). I know you don’t find Kanye’s 50 Cent’s and Country Guys all the time, but the cookie cutters are getting dull, and people need something a little more tanglible right now. And if they can actually FEEL it.. they might just BUY it… you can’t dance all the time. Yor feet will hurt after a while.
Im sorry if none of this makes any sense. I’ve had a rough few days and it’s 630 a.m. I’m also full aware there are MANY problems that the decline is a result of. This is just one that crossed my mind and I’m too drained to get into any more of it right now .My heart is in the right place though, even if my mind isn’t. Maybe I’ll re-write it or add on ater.
Wow… this didn’t look so long in WordPress.. sorry for the essay/ramble. Goodnight"
"I’m not gonna get too much into this, but the whole Kanye/50 thing is the talk of the town and quite a few people have asked my take on it. Gorilla vs. Teddy Bear, SuperVillain vs. Joe Everyman, David vs.. well you get the picture. Anyway. I’ve just been sitting back and watching, from the inside and out, and listening to what everyone’s been saying. I came across my main man Jay Smooth’s vlog asking consumers to boycott BOTH albums in order to further breakdown what’s left of the industry so it can be properly rebuilt. I wholeheartedly agree with most of what he said for the most part but (and do NOT turn this into a Just vs. Jay… unless he plays Fight Night) in light of this weeks numbers, the boycott obviously didnt happen. Like i said I agree for the most part, but my take on it is slightly different. If you look at the numbers, compared to the majority of sales this year, one point is strongly proven. PEOPLE WILL STILL BUY GOOD MUSIC. There are songs I like and dislike on both albums, but theyre were both solid albums, and better than most that came out this year. It doesnt matter who sold exactly what, but between Ye, 50 and the Country Guy, almost 2 million records were purchased last week. More than some label’s entire hip-hop rosters sold in the past 12 months. Now granted of course there was a huge hype machine behind 2 out of the 3, but at the end of the day, people don’t always feed into the hype machines, as we all know, and they aren’t as stupid as we generally assume the masses to be. While I do agree that there definitely needs to be some destruction and reconstruction in the music business overall, good music also needs to be made. I think the problem is partially due to an antiquated and ineffective buisness model, as well as an abundance of artists/labels not making a product pepole actually feel compelled to buy.
I’m not totally sour on all music right now, and I don’t turn my nose up at something just because it’s what "the kids" are into today… (I get a huge kick out of Soulja Boy, tho I’m not bumping it) But there has to be a balance. Pop music is just that. Popular music, and has been here since…. well forever. Always will be too. Speaking of Soulja Boy, all you people who hate on records like that, Chicken Noodle Soup, Lip Gloss, etc. Shut up. I mean really. these are kids. They’re like 15, 16! You act like its a grown 30 year old woman or man making these records. They’re made by some (mostly) talented kids… FOR kids for the most part. Nothing more than today’s "Iesha’s" and "Playground’s" I mean, if some 16 year old kid came out pushin weight and bussin his gun for his man in the feds, that’s when I’d have a problem. Let a kid be a kid. When T.I. makes "Tomato Grilled Cheese and a 20 oz. Snapple", get mad. But yes, balance is another thing that is sorely missing.
Anyway back to my original point: Artists, labels, A&R’s, etc. Stop blaming the internet, DJ’s, mixtapes, the Africans, and the Chinese. Granted we will probably never see the days of an album selling 15 million physical copies anymore, but if you, help BUILD, push, market, and provide opportunities for the artists you sign ,your results may be a little better than they have been. Find artsts, who are just that.. true artists, who aren’t just trying to churn out something that sounds like the 10 other records that just played on the radio. And if the people can relate to, look up to, or just plain love them somehow, even better. I mean how many records are out there that are huge, and the people know nothing about the artist themselves?.. and don’t care to. They just wana bounce to it in the club and drive home… (while listening to a CD they might have actually BOUGHT). I know you don’t find Kanye’s 50 Cent’s and Country Guys all the time, but the cookie cutters are getting dull, and people need something a little more tanglible right now. And if they can actually FEEL it.. they might just BUY it… you can’t dance all the time. Yor feet will hurt after a while.
Im sorry if none of this makes any sense. I’ve had a rough few days and it’s 630 a.m. I’m also full aware there are MANY problems that the decline is a result of. This is just one that crossed my mind and I’m too drained to get into any more of it right now .My heart is in the right place though, even if my mind isn’t. Maybe I’ll re-write it or add on ater.
Wow… this didn’t look so long in WordPress.. sorry for the essay/ramble. Goodnight"
